Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said on Monday the candidates’ list of her party for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections would be released on Tuesday afternoon. She said the party’s 12-member election committee and district presidents would meet at the Kalighat party office at 1.15 pm on Tuesday and she would announce the Trinamool candidate list for Lok Sabha elections at 3.30 pm.

Begining on 11 April, Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal would be held over seven phases through 19 May, the Election Commission announced on Sunday. TMC, BJP, the CPI-M-led Left Front and the Congress will vie for 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Stressing that she has nothing against the Election Commission of India (ECl) over the election schedule, Banerjee said: “The elections in Bengal, Bihar, and UP have been spread over seven phases as per the BJP’s game plan.” Stating that she had never seen such a prolonged election process in the state before, Mamata Banerjee said the weather in Bengal was very bad with nor’wester starting from April and it would be also extremely hot.

She further alleged that the BJP was planning to disturb Bengal. “But we have no problem. I am very happy (that) they will get a befitting reply as we will win 42 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. BJP always has the tendency to insult Bengal. They think people of Bengal are fools and don’t understand anything. But during the past elections, people of Bengal have demonstrated how intelligent they are and they will demonstrate this again. In the coming days Bengal will rebuild the nation,” she said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed she had reliable information that the Centre was planning another “ surgical strike” in April to gain political mileage in the coming Lok Sabha polls. She however refused to specify what kind of “strike” she was referring to. “I have got some information…it is a very important information. They (read the Centre) are planning another strike, what strike I will not say. Another strike in the name of so called so called so called in the month of April. That’s why this (elections will be) continued up to 19 May,” Banerjee told reporters while leaving state secretariat Nabanna this evening.

She said Bihar, Bengal, and UP would play a key role in forming the new government.

The CM said the Trinamool Congress steering committee and district unit presidents would meet in Kolkata at 1.15 pm on Tuesday after which she would announce the party’s Lok Sabha candidate list at 3.30 pm.

Meanwhile, party’s secretary general Partha Chatterjee and all India general secretary Subrato Bakshi met the state chief election officer and urged him to clarify about VVPATs. They also asked what were the reasons for conducting elections in West Bengal in seven phases. Chatterjee asked how election could be conducted in the same district on two separate dates creating confusion among the people.

At least 10-12 new faces are likely to find a place in the Trinamool list for Lok Sabha polls, according to party sources. The new faces would be fielded from the seats the party had won and also from those it had lost during the 2014 elections, they said. In addition, the party will also evaluate the performance of its sitting MPs, both inside Parliament and outside, before giving them a ticket. “We will also pitch in new candidates in two other seats where celebrities are MPs at present. New faces would replace the old candidates, except for a few, in all the eight seats that the party had lost in 2014,” said a senior TMC leader.

The TMC, which has 34 MPs out of a total of 42 seats in the state, lost two of its lawmakers recently — Soumitra Khan of Bishnupur defected to BJP and Anupam Hazra of Bolpur was expelled for anti-party activities. It is likely that some of the MPs would not make it to the candidate list as they have not fared well.

However, the final decision on ticket distribution would be taken by the party supremo Mamata Banerjee. “How the person has fared as a public representative and if he or she was able to take up the issues concerning people are very important. The same applies while distributing tickets to those who lost the last time,” said a TMC leader.

Amid reports of Bhatpara’s uncrowned monarch Arjun Singh joining the saffron brigade for reportedly not getting a nomination met the CM at Nabanna on Monday, accompanied by former railway minister Dinesh Dwivedi. Singh said discussions were held on who would be candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.